Time in the desert. The days of wilderness. Each of our experiences there differ. One thing remains constant. They are difficult. They are hard. They bring anxiety. Fear prevails.
Years ago, a friend and I took a Bible course together. it was about leaving Egypt. It was my first study on the travels of God’s children out of Egypt. It was also my first realization that my life was a great study in that. The Egypt’s in the life of a believer. We know who our deliverer is. We know we have left the pains Egypt brings. The slavery to the ways of the world. Yet we hold onto the food and water provided by that which actually desires to be our captor. Outwardly, it seems like a safe place. We finally get enough and turn our back to that hold on our lives and follow our Redeemer into the wilderness. Just like the whiners under the leadership of Moses, that parched wilderness “learning center” seems too hard. To hot. To barren. Too strewn with rocks. Too hard to walk. Downright scary, wouldn’t you agree?
Press on. There is promise ahead. If our Redeemer just took us straight from Egypt and directly into an abundant land of promise, we would end up back where we started. We have not had the opportunity to depend on Him for our life. Our water. Our food. He will keep us wandering there until we stop turning to look back at our old life. The one that appeared to provide more “cultural” security. The one without Jesus. The one without obedience to God’s will for our life.
Thought For Today:
Our wilderness moments will strengthen us in Christ. We learn to look to the One who cares for us. Who sends streams of water through our parched souls and brings beauty up through the hard surface of sorrow, pain, fear, and panic. All the things that evil visits upon our lives. When we stop looking back to our old ways, our days of disobedience, our days of pleasing everyone but God…that is when we bloom into what God desires we become. A child of the living God. A child destined for the land of promise.
Much like a flower that finds enough water and soil in a parched ground, to burst forth in beautiful color… under the most difficult circumstances. Sheltered, fed and protected by the God of the Universe. The lover of our soul.
Scripture For Today:
Isaiah 32:1-2
¹Look, a righteous king is coming! And honest princes will rule under him. ² Each one will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a parched land. (NLT)
Prayer For Today:
Hello Father! Thank you for your history handed down through the ages. Your guide on how to live walking in obedience to You. We thank you for our own ancestry who walked before us, handing down their wisdom learned while taking their own journey with You. We pray that we are a reflection of grace, mercy and forgiveness. Forgive us our sins. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
© 2015 Kathy Ledbetter all rights reserved